


Time is the King of Men; Making Monsters of Us All

by MrMissMrsRandom



Series: Wrath and Rage [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Genre: Can be read as a prequel to Soar, Dragon Possession, Ethnia finds her Wrath, Gen, Post-Bellhalla Massacre, Tailtiu's beginning descent into depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:27:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23639068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrMissMrsRandom/pseuds/MrMissMrsRandom
Summary: The monsters are ourselves, our choices, and our inheritance.
Relationships: Azelle/Tiltyu | Tailtiu, Ferry | Erinys/Levn | Lewyn
Series: Wrath and Rage [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727434
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Time is the King of Men; Making Monsters of Us All

**Author's Note:**

  * For [winecup](https://archiveofourown.org/users/winecup/gifts).



The news of the Bellhalla insurrection arrived on swifter travel than even pegasus wings: through human tongues, cheers, and tears. 

Many in Grannvale-- save for, perhaps, the duchy of Chalphy-- crowed in triumph or sighed in relief. The traitors were dealt with, their kingdom would return to order, with a strong leader at the helm, and Saint Heim’s heir by his side. It would be a time of prosperity and renewal after so many men were gone due to foreign conflicts. 

One face in the castle of Friege, however, once she had shed all her tears, gained a sense of clarity. 

Her brother had said their sister’s corpse was not amongst the bodies. 

“She is a traitor. We will retrieve her, and see that she gets the justice she deserves.” Bloom hissed, clutching the returned Mjolnir in a fierce grip. 

But then, she thinks of her sister, and of her father. Duke Reptor was not a kind man. He treated her well and fairly, but there was always a distance in his gaze, a question, whenever he saw her dark auburn hair, and he would then glare towards Velthomer to the north. While her sister always treated her with love and care. Tailtiu, next to their grandmother, was the person she knew loved her most in this world.

How could someone capable of so much love commit treason without reason behind it?

A few days later, Bloom would find another sister fled to parts unknown. 

Years later, he would lead the charge in the invasion of Silesse. 

* * *

Tailtiu rested her hand on her growing belly as Queen Rahna told her of the Battle of Bellhalla. It was not a battle. Not really. She had seen the haunted look in Erinys’s eyes right she collapsed in the courtyard, her armor singed. No matter how terrible the war had gotten, even when she lost her sister, Tailtiu had never seen Erinys look so forsaken. 

She remembered that sort of feeling when Azelle had left her behind, and she felt it again, unmoored from what held her to earth, floating with no way of regaining solid footing. 

Azelle, Lex, even Bishop Claude--

All dead, from Azelle’s half-brother’s hand, and Valflame’s hellfire. Azelle had said he couldn’t bear to know someone willing to kill their own father, but what of someone willing to kill the brother they raised as a son? 

Queen Rahna’s hand holding her shoulder brought her back to the dark reality of the situation.

“Lady Tailtiu, please know that we will protect you and your children. No harm will ever come to you, as long as the kingdom of Silesse stands.” 

“Thank you, your majesty,” Tailtiu replied, trying to fall back on the courtesy lessons she never paid attention to, because she wasn’t Thrud’s heir, and she was the daughter of a duke. Back at a time when she thought the world could never hurt her. “If you’ll excuse me, I would like to be with my son.” 

“Of course. Archimage Canis will escort you,” Queen Rahna turned to one of the court mages, who then bowed, and offered his arm. She took it because it was proper, not because she needed it. 

“I have a son, a little bit older than yours.” Archimage Canis said as he escorted her to the nursery. “And my wife just sent word that we have another child on the way.”

He talked in a way that was awkward but didn’t press. It served as good background noise 

“That is wonderful news,” Tailtiu answered, both hearing and not hearing her tone, unsure if it was even the right one to use. “I hope the child is born healthy.”

“Perhaps someday our children can play together.” He said. “If it is accepted.”

“... That is a nice idea. Someday.” Tailtiu replied, and gave a brief nod to him, before entering the nursery, where Arthur was still sleeping in his crib. 

She asked the nursemaid to leave, and it was only then, in that windowless room that smelled of soft feathers and milk, that she wept.

* * *

There are whispers in Silesse of a monster, coming to their door. 

It was once dark and formless, a shadow that paled within the light they thought their world was bathed in, but then it grew. First, it came to Isaach, slaughtering its ruling line, and then corruption crashed like a wave on its lands, leaving high taxes, work camps, and other miseries in its wake. The people of the kingdom of Forseti’s winds worried about how long it would take for them to face the same.

They thought it was settled when the civil war was put to rest, but it was not. The monster snarled at their borders, growing more powerful, more distinct. 

Mjolnir’s wrath brought pegasi crashing from their lofty heights.

Two daughters of Thrud, both in a foreign land with an uncertain future, realized how well they knew the monster. How it once sheltered them from the world and its ugliness. And then, without warning, it turned and began to devour its own young. 

But, in the end, they realized that it would always do so. 

The monster was always hungry, always wrathful. It would not be ignored. 

* * *

“Lady Tailtiu, my lady, come quick!” 

Tailtiu had just finished nursing Tine and settled her down for a nap when she was called, and immediately reached for Thoron. “Frigga, stay with the children, I’ll join--”

But Frigga shook her head. “I will stay with the young lord and lady, but it is not an attack. Prince Lewyn has returned! In the throne room--!” 

Tailtiu’s eyes widened, and without another word, she began running.

Lewyn! Her friend survived Bellhalla! He would be able to give them knowledge of what happened, and lead Silesse forward in counterattacks! Finally, there was hope. 

And then Tailtiu entered the throne room to find Erinys weeping in Lewyn’s arms, Queen Rahna only just holding decorum. Tailtiu felt herself tear up a little, but when Ced toddled over to her, she wiped her eyes. 

“Aunt Taytu,” Ced lifted his arms, and she scooped him up easily. 

“Why the serious expression?” Tailtiu teased him, pinching his cheek. “Look, your father has returned.”

“... I don’t know him.” Ced said in a small voice, and she hummed. Of course, Ced was barely a year old when the army left Silesse. But they would have time to get to know each other and grow closer as father and son. 

And then Lewyn turned toward them, and Tailtiu felt her heart freeze.

Those eyes were not Lewyn’s. 

* * *

It took a week for Tailtiu to meet Erinys alone. And no matter what she said, her friend refused to listen to reason.

“You weren’t there, Tailtiu,” Erinys said, arms crossed defensively over her chest. “Anyone would have been changed by what they saw, not to mention the journey it would take to get here.”

“You told me that you saw an attack hit him head-on. One that no one, not even Lewyn, could have avoided.” Tailtiu said. “You are his wife, and you don’t see it? How his eyes have changed?!”

“You are imagining things,” Erinys answered, but refused to look at her in the eye. “I thought you would be happy for me. Happy for us.” 

“Not at the cost of a terrible mistake,” Tailtiu whispered, trying to reach out for Erinys. “He doesn’t play his music anymore, he doesn’t smile, his face hardly  _ moves _ . You must have noticed it! We have to tell the Queen, before its too late!” 

“I will not,” Erinys answered. “... She told me, how this might happen.”

“ _ What? _ ” Tailtiu back away, creeping horror coming over her. 

“It is Forseti’s will. It must be.” Erinys replied. “It saved him, and now it is the reason that he returned to us. Nothing is wrong.” 

“Everything is wrong!” Tailtiu screamed. “That is what it means to inherit Forseti? To lose your will, in the name of gaining power?!”

“Please stop shouting--”

“No, not until I knock  _ sense  _ into you!” Tailtiu gripped her arms. “You knew this, and you still married him! With the knowledge that eventually the man you loved would be a near stranger to you, and that---” She felt sick. “Ced.” The little boy with a serious little face and mismatched eyes, who despite his bearing still wordlessly asked for hugs and looked longingly at treats. The good little boy that she loved almost as fiercely as her own children.

Someday, he would be taken over as well. 

Erinys looked at her, sorrowful, but also stern. “Let go of me.” 

Tailtiu dropped her arms. “... I’m leaving.”

“What, but, Tailtiu, the Friege troops are at the border, you aren’t safe--”

“I don’t care!” Tailtiu screamed. “I’m taking my children with me, and I would take Ced with me if I could! You… you  _ disgust me!” _

And so she ran, realizing monsters came in so many guises and hid so many teeth. 

* * *

“The place we are going to is remote, Lady Tailtiu.” Archimage Canis said on their wagon journey. “It is harsh land, and does not hold much compared to the cities, but you will not be found.” 

“Thank you, Canis.” Tailtiu said, bundling Arthur’s scarf. “... I am sorry that our children never got to play together.” 

“It is alright. Another lifetime, perhaps.” Canis responded. “... However, I ask that you try to keep in touch. Whatever you need, my wife and I wish to help.”

Tailtiu hummed, still surprised by such generosity in the world. “I will.”

* * *

Five years later, Archimage Canis, now Bishop Canis of the Loptous Sect, looked down at his fallen queen. 

Rahna lay in a pool of blood, multiple wounds on her chest. He did not use his tome, as that would be far too obvious. 

Canis removed his bloodied gloves, tossing them to the side, and exited the throne room. 

He had stalled for time enough that the rest of the royal family could escape. Where and how, he did not know. He also made sure his wife and daughter had left weeks ago for that location. Of which he was not privy to. He knew that wouldn’t stop the Loptous Sect, however. Blood always sought blood. Even his and his son’s entrance into the sect would not stop them. 

He walked out of the room and waited for King Bloom to arrive, where he would give him the information on where his sister was hiding, and his apologies that he was unable to track down Lady Ethnia. 

He had betrayed his Queen and his country, what was one more betrayal, at the end of it? 

Hawk stumbled into the empty hall, rubbing his eyes and hair disheveled. Canis walked over and picked his son up. At seven, he was growing too big for him to hold, but he did so even still. 

“What are you doing out of bed?” He asked.

“Nightmare. Too quiet…” Hawk mumbled.

“Papa will hold you then until it passes, and all the monsters are gone.” 

All of them except himself. 


End file.
